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How to Measure the Effect of Press Releases

May 14, 2012 by Dan Janal

All people and all companies who want to see their names in print come to the realization that there’s more to publicity than seeing your face in the newspaper. Getting publicity is great for your ego, but what about the ROI of publicity?

After all, there is no such thing as free publicity. You have to spend time and or money to get publicity – and that expense has to be justified.

Many publicity campaign managers wonder: “How can you measure the impact of your press release and your publicity tactics?”

Here are two sets of metrics you can use to see if you are getting a good response on your publicity campaign. The first set of questions involves what I call “primary response metrics.” These are the initial actions that a reporter or a prospect could make when seeing your press release or the articles that result from the press release. The second set of questions concern the sales made from people who see those media mentions.

Primary Response Metrics

  1. How many times was it printed on real media web sites?
  2. Where does the press release rank on Google for various search terms?
  3. How many reporters contacted you for more information?
  4. How many original articles resulted from the press release?
  5. How many visitors came to your website?
  6. How many phone calls did you get from prospects?
  7. How many mentions did it get on social media sites?

Financial Response Metrics

  1. How many sales?
  2. What is the profit per sale?
  3. How long was the sales process?
  4. How do these numbers compare to other marketing methods?

If you track any of these numbers, you’ll have a good idea if your publicity campaign is getting results.

Dan Janal helps small businesses get publicity so they can sell more products. My clients get terrific results from my coaching, consulting, done-for-you services and do-it-yourself tools. For info, go to www.prleadsplus.com or call me at 952-380-1554.

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Filed Under: Book Publicity Tagged With: free publicity, media releases, Press Releases

Comments

  1. Claire says

    May 16, 2012 at 6:17 am

    Nice post. Successful press release experts know that you must send more than one press release to be effective. Weekly or monthly press releases work best. Thanks for sharing.
    Claire recently posted..Lisa Olsens Pregnancy Miracle Book ReviewMy Profile

  2. Pershy says

    May 17, 2012 at 8:51 am

    Measure the effect the free ads are having because they may not be as effective as a paid campaign Track the estimated value that the free advertisements generate, consider whether paid advertisements might generate more value and use that to budget for a combination of free and paid advertising next year. Thanks for sharing.
    Pershy recently posted..How to Make a Solar PanelMy Profile

  3. Kama Timbrell says

    May 25, 2012 at 12:51 pm

    Press releases should only be sent when there’s actual news to report. One of the worst things you can do is send a press release just to send a press release.

    Publicity for publicity’s sake is a waste of time, money, effort, unless of course the goal is to simply generate publicity. PR pros develop campaigns and target media most likely to move closer to a goal: whether it’s sales, building platform, transitioning a client in to being seen as an expert in another, but related field. If you ever hear someone say the goal of publicity is to simply generate publicity, look elsewhere.

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